Ivydene Gardens Soil: |
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The house below was built on sand at the bottom of a sloping lawn. The 12 feet wide patio stretching the length of the back of the house was laid on top of 2 feet thick of blue clay. The lawn sloped down towards the house and also sloped towards the hedge you can see on the right hand side. When it rained, the water would flow off the lawn onto the patio and then to the house. The water then percolated down to the clay, which then swelled (clay can usually absorb 40% of its own volume in water before it turns from a solid to a liquid) which caused a break in the wall above the bay window, resulting in subsidence to the building 6 years after it was built . |
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Looking round the back garden in a clockwise direction. |
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These houses were built in an existing pine forest. |
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Site design and content copyright ©December 2006. Page structure amended September 2012. Menu tables amanded July 2015 by Chris Garnons-Williams. DISCLAIMER: Links to external sites are provided as a courtesy to visitors. Ivydene Horticultural Services are not responsible for the content and/or quality of external web sites linked from this site. |
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So I had the soil analysed to see how fertile it was. In taking the soil samples, I discovered that the areas that I took the soil samples from were sandy rather than clay. |
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When I took up some slabs by the house, I discovered that there was clay underneath them.I produced the following current design followed by the proposed structural design:- |
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The above structural design would then produce the requested requirements. I dug a spade wide trench and 3 feet deep along the outside wall of the dining room and kitchen to discover that the clay was 2 feet thick. I lined the trench with Plantex membrane (available from Travis Perkins) and filled it with Type I MOT Roadstone from Allsand Supplies. The Plantex stops the Roadstone from mixing with the clay and sand surrounding it and the Roadstone will drain any water to the sand below without heave or subsidence. I suggested that the foundations for the conservatory wall should be of solid concrete at least 1 foot into the sand under the blue clay:- |
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6 cubic yards of concrete were used to create these conservatory wall foundations.The soil within this concrete could then dry out and it would then not get wet from rain and therefore not swell or shrink. |
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The Kompo Mulch and Organic Manure were stacked under the pine trees in the Woodland Border before being mixed with the transferred soil on the levelled lawn. The trunks of the pines swelled so much in 2 weeks that the bark split. This was due to the fact that the nutrients in that mulch were started to be used by the pine trees which had been starved of any nutrients for years. |
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The new Path/Patio at the back of the house was then sloped away from the house and the rain drained to the Gully, thence to the Sump in the middle of the garden. |
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The levelled lawn then needed a Patio wall to stop the earth from being unsurported. |
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Levelled lawn in both directions, with the conservatory/path areas sloping away from the house to allow rainwater to be collected and taken to the sump, instead of causing further damage to the house. |
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Proposed Garden Water plan |
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Proposed Garden Electricity Plan |
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Proposed re-use of old patio slabs to reduce costs, instead of buying new Marshalls ones as shown in a previous plan. THE DAMAGE CAUSED TO THIS HOUSE WAS DUE TO THE BUILDER USING CLAY INSTEAD OF SAND NEXT TO THE HOUSE, WHICH STUCK TO THE EXTERNAL HOUSE WALL AND PUSHED IT UP AND DOWN ACCORDING TO HOW WET OR DRY IT BECAME. ALSO, THE BUILDER HAD SLOPED THE PATIO TOWARDS THE HOUSE INSTEAD OF AWAY FROM IT.ANY HARDSTANDING NEXT TO A BUILDING SHOULD SLOPE AWAY FROM IT OR HAVE DRAINAGE BY THE HOUSE TO TAKE THE WATER AWAY. IF THE WATER IS REMOVED TO A SUMP, THEN MAKE SURE THAT THAT SUMP IS NOT IN CLAY SOIL. IF SO, WATER ENTERING IT WILL NOT DRAIN AWAY - (put the water into a French Drain alongside an evergreen hedge, so that the water can drain from the pipe into the surrounding peashingle; through the geotextile, which prevents the roots and soil entering that area, and finally into the soil alongside where the roots of the hedge can use it). |
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Soils and their Treatment
Soil Improvement |
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SOIL PAGE MENU In Soil Formation - WHAT IS SOIL STRUCTURE? How does Water act in the Soil? ACTION PLAN FOR YOU TO DO WITH YOUR SOIL. What to do about Subsidence caused by Clay?
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PLANTS PAGE PLANT USE Groundcover Height Poisonous Cultivated and UK Wildflower Plants with Photos
Following parts of Level 2a, |
PLANTS PAGE MENU
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PLANTS PAGE MENU
Photos - 12 Flower Colours per Month in its Bloom Colour Wheel Gallery
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To locate mail-order nursery for plants from the UK in this gallery try using search in RHS Find a Plant. To locate plants in the European Union (EU) try using Search Term in Gardens4You and Meilland Richardier in France. To locate mail-order nursery for plants from America in this gallery try using search in Plant Lust. To locate plant information in Australia try using Plant Finder in Gardening Australia. |
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The following details come from Cactus Art:- "A flower is the the complex sexual reproductive structure of Angiosperms, typically consisting of an axis bearing perianth parts, androecium (male) and gynoecium (female). Bisexual flower show four distinctive parts arranged in rings inside each other which are technically modified leaves: Sepal, petal, stamen & pistil. This flower is referred to as complete (with all four parts) and perfect (with "male" stamens and "female" pistil). The ovary ripens into a fruit and the ovules inside develop into seeds. Incomplete flowers are lacking one or more of the four main parts. Imperfect (unisexual) flowers contain a pistil or stamens, but not both. The colourful parts of a flower and its scent attract pollinators and guide them to the nectary, usually at the base of the flower tube.
Androecium (male Parts or stamens) Gynoecium (female Parts or carpels or pistil) It is made up of the stigma, style, and ovary. Each pistil is constructed of one to many rolled leaflike structures. Stigma This is the part of the pistil which receives the pollen grains and on which they germinate. Style This is the long stalk that the stigma sits on top of. Ovary The part of the plant that contains the ovules. Ovule The part of the ovary that becomes the seeds. Petal The colorful, often bright part of the flower (corolla). Sepal The parts that look like little green leaves that cover the outside of a flower bud (calix). (Undifferentiated "Perianth segment" that are not clearly differentiated into sepals and petals, take the names of tepals.)"
The following details come from Nectary Genomics:- "NECTAR. Many flowering plants attract potential pollinators by offering a reward of floral nectar. The primary solutes found in most nectars are varying ratios of sucrose, glucose and fructose, which can range from as little a 8% (w/w) in some species to as high as 80% in others. This abundance of simple sugars has resulted in the general perception that nectar consists of little more than sugar-water; however, numerous studies indicate that it is actually a complex mixture of components. Additional compounds found in a variety of nectars include other sugars, all 20 standard amino acids, phenolics, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, vitamins, organic acids, oils, free fatty acids, metal ions and proteins. NECTARIES. An organ known as the floral nectary is responsible for producing the complex mixture of compounds found in nectar. Nectaries can occur in different areas of flowers, and often take on diverse forms in different species, even to the point of being used for taxonomic purposes. Nectaries undergo remarkable morphological and metabolic changes during the course of floral development. For example, it is known that pre-secretory nectaries in a number of species accumulate large amounts of starch, which is followed by a rapid degradation of amyloplast granules just prior to anthesis and nectar secretion. These sugars presumably serve as a source of nectar carbohydrate. WHY STUDY NECTAR? Nearly one-third of all worldwide crops are dependent on animals to achieve efficient pollination. In addition, U.S. pollinator-dependent crops have been estimated to have an annual value of up to $15 billion. Many crop species are largely self-incompatible (not self-fertile) and almost entirely on animal pollinators to achieve full fecundity; poor pollinator visitation has been reported to reduce yields of certain species by up to 50%." |
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The following details about DOUBLE FLOWERS comes from Wikipedia:- "Double-flowered" describes varieties of flowers with extra petals, often containing flowers within flowers. The double-flowered trait is often noted alongside the scientific name with the abbreviation fl. pl. (flore pleno, a Latin ablative form meaning "with full flower"). The first abnormality to be documented in flowers, double flowers are popular varieties of many commercial flower types, including roses, camellias and carnations. In some double-flowered varieties all of the reproductive organs are converted to petals — as a result, they are sexually sterile and must be propagated through cuttings. Many double-flowered plants have little wildlife value as access to the nectaries is typically blocked by the mutation.
There is further photographic, diagramatic and text about Double Flowers from an education department - dept.ca.uky.edu - in the University of Kentucky in America.
"Meet the plant hunter obsessed with double-flowering blooms" - an article from The Telegraph. |
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THE 2 EUREKA EFFECT PAGES FOR UNDERSTANDING SOIL AND HOW PLANTS INTERACT WITH IT OUT OF 15,000:-
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Choose 1 of these different Plant selection Methods:-
1. Choose a plant from 1 of 53 flower colours in the Colour Wheel Gallery.
2. Choose a plant from 1 of 12 flower colours in each month of the year from 12 Bloom Colours per Month Index Gallery.
3. Choose a plant from 1 of 6 flower colours per month for each type of plant:- Aquatic
4. Choose a plant from its Flower Shape:- Shape, Form
5. Choose a plant from its foliage:- Bamboo
6. There are 6 Plant Selection Levels including Bee Pollinated Plants for Hay Fever Sufferers in
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7. when I do not have my own or ones from mail-order nursery photos , then from March 2016, if you want to start from the uppermost design levels through to your choice of cultivated and wildflower plants to change your Plant Selection Process then use the following galleries:-
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There are other pages on Plants which bloom in each month of the year in this website:-
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